For Deaf kids that have aspirations to teach and author, we bring you the story of Jessica White. Jessica is a writer and senior lecturer in creative writing at the University of South Australia in Adelaide.
Born on a farm, she felt isolated growing up as a Deaf person but has gone on to find her voice by authoring Hearing Maud, which won the Michael Crouch Award for a debut biography and was shortlisted for the Prime Minister’s Literary Award, the National Biography Award and two categories in the Queensland Literary Awards.
Firstly, Jessica is you were to dress up in a hero costume what would it be? Wonder Woman! She has great hair.
What is your current Deaf/ Hearing identity? I see myself as deaf, but am very interested in engaging with Deaf culture (I’m starting to learn Auslan but I’m very slow). I also identify as disabled but I don’t see this as a negative thing – I see deafness and disability as something that brings benefits.
Please share your childhood story and diagnosis. I was born on a family farm outside Boggabri in the North-West of New South Wales. I contracted bacterial meningitis when I was four. As we were so far from a doctor, by the time I finally got treatment in the hospital I stopped breathing. I pulled through, but a few weeks later my parents realised that something wasn’t right because I kept saying ‘Pardon?’ They took me to a specialist in Sydney who found that I was severely-to-profoundly deaf. I have no hearing in my left ear and about half in my right. I wear a hearing aid in my right ear and use assistive technology to do my job as a lecturer and communicate with family and friends (the NDIS has been great for this).
How did your parents respond to you being deaf? I lost my hearing in the early 80s, and my parents had no experience of deafness whatsoever. At first, they were frightened because they didn’t know what would happen, but they adjusted and began to work things out.
What was your primary school experience like? As I had some speech, my parents sent me to the local primary school with my brother, sister, and cousins. I was very happy there. An itinerant teacher for the deaf visited me once a week to help with my speech. This was the only speech therapy I ever received and I think I still need more. As we were so far from anywhere, particularly from services for deaf people, I didn’t know any other deaf people as I was growing up, except for a brief conversation with Libby Harricks, in the mid-80s, as she was a friend of a friend of my mother’s. I think if I’d had a deaf friend while I was growing up, I would have felt less strange.
Did your experience at primary school extend to high school? High school was terrible, because I didn’t know how to have a conversation or make friends, and I no longer had a support teacher. I spent most of Year 7 on my own and the isolation I experienced was scarring. I am a gregarious person, even as I spend a lot of time on my own writing, so not being able to make friends was extremely painful. When I was 15 we moved from the farm to Armidale and I went to a different school, where I felt safer.
What was uni like? University was similarly hard because I didn’t know how to socialise. It was only when I went on exchange in 1999, when I was 21, that I finally learned the knack of conversation. After that, I became much happier.
The HEARO Team often says, “It takes a village”. How is that true for you when you look back on your deaf journey? I would never have become confident and successful without my immediate and extended family. My brother and I were particularly close, and I relied on him to relay information to me – we were always together. My parents were unconditional in their support, particularly of my academic career and my writing. My sister taught me how to have conversations with people and to manage my anxiety. My extended family, who lived on the farm with us (it was a big place!) were like extra brothers and sisters. As the primary school I went to was so small, the teachers gave me the time and attention that I needed. The NSW government also helped by supplying hearing aids, an FM system, and carpeting the wooden floors.
What is the ONE thing you would tell your younger self? Stop worrying – you will prevail.
The HEARO Team often talks about the “Yes, I can” moment when we overcome an obstacle or achieve something that might have seemed impossible before. Do you have a moment like that to share with us? In 1999, when I was 21, I travelled on exchange to the University of California, Berkeley. The whole year was a series of obstacles. It was the first time I went on a plane overseas by myself and I couldn’t hear the overhead announcements. I had limited social skills but needed to engage people in conversation to work out how to get to places. I encountered discrimination from one of my lecturers, who wouldn’t use my FM system. I developed excellent problem-solving skills to deal with each of these hurdles. Basically, they involved asking questions! By the end of the year, I had so much more confidence in my ability to interact with people and travel. It was one of the best years of my life.
The HEARO Team also says…there are many ways to be deaf and all are ok. What does this statement mean for you? This statement is inclusive, which is important. I was really worried that, when my book Hearing Maud was published, I would not be accepted by the Deaf community, due to negative responses I had previously encountered from a Deaf person. I was raised in a hearing family and, during this encounter, was made to feel that this was a bad thing, even though my parents did the best they possibly could at the time, particularly given they were so far away from services and other deaf people. Ostracising deaf people who do not know sign language or Deaf culture is unhelpful because there is always room for learning these things and for developing a Deaf identity if that is what a deaf person wants. And when Hearing Maud was published, I found out that the Deaf community is really lovely and supportive!
How has being a deaf person enhanced your life? I doubt I would have been a writer had deafness compelled me to spend so much time on my own. Deafness also makes me attentive to detail, which is important for writing well and gives me a different perspective on things, which makes my writing original. It has also made me more aware of and compassionate towards other people.
What has been the highlight of your life so far? I can’t limit it to just one! Publishing my first novel, meeting my partner, travelling overseas, and gaining recognition for Hearing Maud are all highlights.
Looking ahead, what are your dreams for the future? I’d like to keep publishing books, buy a house and set up a charitable foundation for people who haven’t had the same opportunities I‘ve had.
If you’d like to get your own copy of Hearing Maud, buy it here.